A/N: Happy New Year, everybodee…well, happy-getting-older-new-year, anyways! I hope y'all had a great Christmas and New Year's! I had such a good time—and gotten needled enough by a lot of my DP friends—that it was high time for me to get back to business when it came to writing about my fav character! And if you know me at all, you know that all of my stories are serial and interconnected to each other; and so, it should be no surprise to you when I tell you that there a few little spoilers if you haven't read my story, Gold Tested in Fire—or my other stories, for that matter(And don't be shy to review them all—it will help you to keep your New Year's resolutions-Uh-huh!) One of the important things to know about my story Gold Tested in Fire (GTiF) is that all ghosts have a certain power level. Some ghosts are level one, or level two, etc. I explained the 'criteria' for a particular power level in that story (GTiF). In addition, I will re-introduce some OCs in this story that were introduced in earlier stories, so don't be alarmed if you don't know who those are. I will give you a little recap about that without boring you too much! Anyhooo, I also want everyone in the whole wide webworld to know that I'm dedicating this story to my sister, whose birthday happens to be today! HB, Sis-you're the BEST! And, of course, a HUGE thank you to my awesome beta, pearl84, for all of her priceless help; and to my just as AWESOME and great friend, Angelus-alvus, for helping me with the summary… And, oh, don't forget the silly little disclaimer that I don't own Danny Phantom or its cannon characters. But I DO own this story and any OC in it! Oh-oh, my clock says it's time for the show. Enjoy!
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Entanglement
(Tangled in Terror!)
Chapter 1—A Tear in the Fabric of Order
"Yesss," a high, raspy-like voice slowly breathed in both discontentment and eagerness.
It sniffed the air.
"Yessss, it is true," its snake-like utterance repeated more excitedly and definitely; and the lasting echo of that sole word seemed to shake the dark spherical cave in which the voice dwelt along with evil and menace.
The glowing creature hurried to the oval entrance of the cave, which seemed to be suspended in the air. And in reality, it was, since anyone not familiar with the naked entrance would find themselves tumbling precipitously downward in a fate worse than…death.
However, the entrance to the dense, orb-shape body faced another much, much larger spherical body not too far from it. Each of their outer shells was made up of layers-upon-layers of thick, sticky, and rope-like material that looked similar to a ball of greyish-black yarn, only that these balls also had a diffuse glow to them. Though separate and of different size, each orb was nevertheless connected to each other by a few sparse but strategically placed thick greyish-black cords. And even though the smaller sphere seemed insignificant compared to the more important and much larger one that the ghostly creature kept….outside of—and really, almost all around—it, the smaller orb controlled the larger one.
In fact, the smaller spherical body was the creature's dwelling place, which could be likened to the pupil of a large eye; and like the pupil, it was dwarfed by and yet in front and center of this 'eye'. Only the smaller 'orb-like pupil' was not directly part of the larger 'eye'. It was attached to this 'eye' by only a few strands of webbing, as if the pupil had bulged outward from the rest of the 'eye' and the 'eye' was trying to keep it from escaping. Not only that, but the entrance of the smaller orb actually faced the larger eye mass rather than looked away from it. And finally, the rest of the larger 'eyeball's' outer crust was made up entirely of a thick entangled webbing. Beyond and below that layer, there was another large area of empty space that surrounded and abutted a solid center that was for yet another purpose.
The creature, however, wasn't alarmed by how confusing the place seemed to be. It was at home here. Besides, it had planned it perfectly this way so that nothing would escape it…
The glowing beastie stuck its head out further and briefly surveyed the thickly woven cord connected to the short lower lip of the entrance before it sniffed the air again. A sinister smile grew wider on its gruesome beaked mouth.
"Too many, too many and all too ripe," the hollow, slightly apprehensive voice continued only to itself.
But then, the creature frowned slightly. For some odd reason, it had only a vague feeling, a mere whiff, about those….ghosts.
"Strange," the glowing entity mused as it sniffed the air some more.
It couldn't understand why those ghosts weren't detected before. For some inexplicable reason, it sensed that they weren't always in the Ghost Zone and that they had only recently reached enough power to rend the fabric of order. That is, its own order and no one else's. Still, how could it be?
The creature's mind shifted at suddenly feeling its hunger grow.
"Powerful ghosts, indeed," it concluded. There had to be a way to strengthen those nagging feelings into certain ones that could identify and, more importantly, locate those lower beings…True, it knew it was only a matter of time to collect enough evidence, meager as it was; but the beast also knew that it could be impatient…
At the moment, the entity was so wrapped up in its current thoughts that it ignored the red or purple streaks of lightening that occasionally bathed the entrance to the cave in a surreal light. After all, the tangled cords abutting the atmosphere actually served another purpose: they actually created the red and black lightning whenever there was the slightest bit of friction between them—which all too often occurred under the shifting weight of the glowing creature as it moved about its business.
Still, with each flash of lightning, the silhouette of the body connected to that snake-like voice twisted unnaturally in size and shape against the wall of the cave just behind it.
Because, in reality, the entity's glowing black hairy body almost filled up the entire oval entrance to the cave. And its frame wasn't at all serpentine as its voice suggested. Instead, it was actually stocky, with a belly that was as swollen and round as a fattened tick. Eight emaciated hairy legs also radiated out of that belly like straight pins placed symmetrically around a pin cushion. And its small head seemed to be plopped on top with no neck at all. In fact, for all intents and purposes, the creature resembled a giant ghostly spider more than anything else.
A huge mark shaped like an 'X' was proudly displayed under its abdomen; and it glowed in different colors every few seconds. Sometimes the mark glowed red, other times purple or blue. Then, it would meld into a bright green followed by yellow before returning to red. But no matter what color the light bathing the 'X' or slightly beyond it was at the moment, all of the glow radiated outward from a single glowing black gem that was embedded right at the crossroads of the two slanted lines that made up the 'X'.
And when the creature sensed what it wanted—and depending on its mood as well— the 'X' would glow a particular color or colors for longer periods of time. And right now, it was intermittently glowing red or green—like a traffic light that only commanded a 'go' or 'stop' signal—because it was in the midst of making a decision.
Eight pupilless yet eerily glowing eyes—which matched whatever color the entity's 'X' was at the moment—twitched oddly and moved separately in each of their sockets. Their all-encompassing glare penetrated the black atmosphere beyond the entrance of its lair. But then, all eight eyes jolted in one direction and turned fully red before they widened in anticipation with the solid thought now curling around the creature's brain.
"Yesss," it hissed yet again, though this time the sharp sideways beak that was its mouth clicked rather than sent its word echoing onward, since it was still at the entrance of the cave.
"Time…time," the ghostly spider then said as it turned back and re-entered its abode. It knew what it had to do to identify and find the ghosts which had it in such a snit.
The small entrance slowly expanded until it opened up into a large area. But that space there wasn't entirely opened. Instead—and like the outside of the entrance—it was clogged by a maze of thick, black gooey and glowing strings which crisscrossed each other to form a tightly and intricately woven web that also glowed. This was the creature's private web that it used for its own purpose and to prepare itself for any plan it hatched—like the one that just bubbled up from its brain….
The spindly legs alit onto one of the threads and shimmied up it much faster than the heavy body they bore suggested. Nevertheless, the weight displaced the thick threads adequately enough to set off a vibratory reaction along one of them.
Just then, all eight eyes of the creature zeroed in to a misshaped glowing cocoon that hung loosely from that string and had been jiggled hard enough from the vibration to shift slightly from its original position. It was very small compared to the size of the spider.
The ghostly being's beak mimicked a smirk as best it could at the sight, even though it really looked more hideous than anything else, especially when the long fangs that lurched beside the beak glistened in the duller glow of the red and purple lightning that suddenly skittered across the ceiling of the cave. The bundle had twitched some more; and in the light of the red and purple lightning that was still flashing periodically, it eerily seemed like a dead man swinging from a noose before a storm at dusk.
The creature's mouth clicked just before one of its front legs reached out for and stroked the cocoon as tenderly as a mother would her child.
Ironically, then, that the only thing that the ghostly spider had in common with a mother was that it was a female.
But then, just as the two-colored lightning flashed again, the silky sac seemed to sense her touch and it immediately recoiled from it.
The spider's mouth clicked up once more into a warped smile before she hissed almost lovingly, "There, there. No worriesss."
But she abruptly lunged at the bundle, cradled it into her arms and sunk her fangs into it!
The struggling creature swaddled inside of its sticky receptacle quickly slowed its movements until it was completely stilled.
The spider, however, didn't immediately let go of the cocoon; but instead, drank in more of its contents for several minutes until what was left was a mere shrunken version of its former self.
She wiped the excess ectoplasm off of her fangs with one of her front legs before slurping the rest into her mouth.
"Ready now," she said with more determination before she turned completely around and headed back to the entrance to her lair.
Once the female ghostly spider was at the lip of her cave once more, she stopped and sniffed the air yet again. Suddenly, she frowned. True, she could tell that the air had shifted and was no longer blowing from the north as it had been when she was last here. Not that this concerned her. After all, the wind haphazardly shifted from every direction in and in front of her cave, since it was in effect the center point of this entire region.
She frowned again as she checked the direction of the wind once more. It was now whooshing from the south, which was directly below her orb-shaped lair.
But there was something….more that disturbed her, especially when she didn't exactly know what was wrong. And all other thoughts concerning the ghosts she was searching for vanished…
She immediately leaned over to the right lower lip of her cave and grabbed one of the thick sticky threads attached to it before she pulled and held onto it with the small claws of one of her forelegs. Almost immediately, she let go, not unlike having plucked one of the strings of a violin.
The thick string had twanged in response before it set up a vibratory wave that shot away from the ghost spider. And yet, she was careful to lightly touch the same string immediately afterward.
Her sensitive claws, which were lightly coated in oil to keep her from sticking to her own web, analyzed the latent vibration of that string.
However, when the results did not give her the answer to her unsettling feelings, she scrambled to the left underside of the entrance and yanked on the large, thick web-string that was attached there with the same amount of force as the other before she in turn carefully touched that string immediately afterward.
The tingling under her foreleg was barely gone when all eight of her eyes flared red and widened at her discovery.
Without hesitating, the ghostly spider jumped onto that same thread and deftly slithered down it at such a fast clip that she actually looked as if she were flying.
She ignored the other individual threads sliding past her. Each of them steered a user through a certain pathway even among the myriad of countless thread paths that crisscrossed and dipped above or below it. As for the spider ghost, she could easily follow this map with all eight of her eyes closed.
However, she wasn't going to risk missing a thing. Her cluster of reddened eyes remained focused solely on the same thick silk thread either at the next immediate inch or for several feet ahead. Finally, she spied the area of her concern, which was located on the much larger spherical orb. She growled in displeasure as she quickened her pace.
She almost pounced upon her target and began to circle it. She had easily and readily detected that this area of her webbing wasn't right. But she dared not touch it until she could inspect it.
She sniffed the air while all of her red glowing eyes bore microscopically into the disarrayed, mismatched area.
"Intelligent…thorough….but not perfect," she mused as her eyes twitched in inspection.
Finally, one of her claws touched and then twisted the glowing grey thread that had all of her attention at the moment. It easily rent and she examined the damaged end.
Her mouth clicked in murmur, "Ecto-laser….impressive repair."
But then, she looked downward and past the tattered thread and saw a similar repair of even more previously broken webbing that progressively worsened the deeper it penetrated the huge eyeball-like mass. She could easily see the pathway as she slithered down to reveal a very small portion of the solid interior below; and all of her still red glowing eyes narrowed in irritation.
Yet again, she pulled at another damaged thread and slid the oiled tip of her forearm along it until she reached its end. The webbed cord then lit up before she brought the piece closer to what could be considered her nose.
"Not perfect indeed…hmmm, perhaps a level-six [1]," she growled as she sniffed the torn webbing and then the air.
Her eyes narrowed as she continued to examine the strand. This time, however, she actually took a bite out of it!
"Odd," she thought. The ghost that had invaded her territory was not an ordinary level six ghost…In fact, it seemed to be both ghost and not a ghost. She had to learn more!
She pulled on the same strand and could tell by the tension in the thread that she was sure that it didn't matter what kind of ghost that odd ghost who had invaded her lair was. It was no threat...or was it, since it had been here?
Her eyes flashed at her next discovery. But she thought nothing of it at the moment since she fell right into the automatic routine of repairing the damaged webbing here. She could not delay it at all or else….
The ghost spider shot out a thin thread of glowing greyish silk from one of the four spinets in her abdomen and lowered herself into the hole she had made after inspecting this area. When she got to the end of the damage that was not done by her, she anchored herself just above the edge. Several sticky, yet silky, grey threads shot out of all four spinets in her abdomen this time before a few claws on her oily legs captured them and braided them into a single, thicker cord. With great speed and skill, she re-wove the thread with the existing and undamaged part of the thick web.
Her plan was simple: work her way back to the surface of the eyeball-like mass of webbing while slowly inching upward as she filled in and finished an open section.
As her legs busily knitted, her mind wandered back to her second discovery, only for her to grunt in a mixture of indignation and anger. She had, of course, already concluded that a level-six ghost had rent her web, and had started the damage from the outside and worked down to the inside of the partially hollow eyeball-like mass. Still, she was intrigued that that ghost had sloppily repaired it at the innermost layer of webbing it had to have last encountered getting to the solid part below it; but then had gradually mended it with more care as he—or she—got back to the surface of the immense ball of web. Obviously, that ghost didn't want to be discovered…But, more importantly, why had a level six ghost even come here, much less have been able to leave or even could conceal his —or her —escape?
Her ire flared from the next thought shooting through her brain as brightly as the red and purple lightning that struck nearby. She unconsciously tightened the last knot a bit more forcefully. How could she have not discovered this…event sooner? After all, she had easily discovered the attempt to escape by that former victim whose ecto-corpse was swinging lifeless in her lair…and that had been a level-six ghost as well…
Still, how could that other less…inferior creature have managed to escape her detection? Or better yet, why hadn't she actually caught that ghost in the act of trying to break into her…fortress? She sighed a bit as if she had forgiven herself just a little. True, she had not been scheduled to make rounds on this section of her keep until much later than now. After all, this part was the strongest part of the stronghold. She frowned in disgust immediately afterward. But that was not the point. That ghost shouldn't have been able to avoid her watch… And for that matter, what would that…that puny ghost want with what was in the center of the eyeball-like mass? He—or she—was a fool….
But as she finished off this section of the web, she thought again. No. That ghost wasn't a fool. It couldn't be, when it almost covered its tracks. No. It was very clever…and must have accomplished a…mission. But, its mission couldn't have had anything to do with that victim she had just devoured a few minutes ago, since that fool had tried to escape from the very opposite side of this area—and she had caught him escaping from below and not trying to break in from above!
She paused in thought, now even more curious about that spectral creature—inferior as it still was. After all, it had been able so clever as to keep her ignorant of its doings. And clever enough to hide any evidence of his—or her—identity; for now, at least….
Her eyes narrowed in irritation. She suddenly needed to find out what its mission had been; and more importantly, if it had been successful. It was already irritating enough that she didn't know who that inferior ghostly burglar was; and yet, she had to admit that she admired his—or her—ingenuity.
Still, she also had her ways of finding out all that she wanted to know in spite of any ingenuity of any ghost or creature that was in or had ever been in her domain. After all, she knew everything about her keep: every inch of its webbed wall, how much space was allowed between that woven barricade and the solid center; and most importantly, all about the inhabitants on that solid center.
Her mouth hitched into a hideous smirk as she chuckled at her next thought. Inhabitants? Ha! She should say: prisoners!
After all, she was their guardian.
Her face scrunched back up into what looked somewhat like a scowl when she refocused her thoughts. That was beside the point, since she was still infuriated about that ghost who dared invade her domain! Her face softened slightly at the very next idea.
She would find out about that ghost by visiting the solid center below her.
And she knew just which of the prisoners to interrogate…He would be the only one who would and even could possibly have a semblance of an idea as to why that inferior ghost had been there.
She knew exactly how to find that one, too. Even as the ghostly spider was hatching her plan, two sets of her front legs were already at work. While one set carefully disassembled the web to open a temporary path, another set was busy with quite another task.
The black gem within her abdomen glowed just before a thick silky but now black string oozed out of her abdomen; and once again, the claws on that one set of forelegs deftly grasped it. This time, a black sticky ball was quickly forming between the two expert extremities as they twirled the ball between them.
Once the spider was satisfied with the size of the ball, she stopped spinning it and quickly connected it to more of the black sticky substance still shooting out of her abdomen. When she was done, she examined her work and smiled at the ball dangling from a long black sticky string, which looked a lot like a softer version of a ball-and-chain.
"The perfect tangle of terror," she mentally snickered in admiration.
She suddenly hesitated. She could not remember when she had last used one of her powers…
The female creature growled in indignation even as she thought, "Careful, now. Cannot have them know."
Though she didn't want to think about it longer, she had to admit to herself that there could be…complications if the Observants or those other irritating spirits found about what she was doing. But then again, she was so driven, she dismissed any further thoughts about them…
She grabbed the ball and brought it to her fangs. But she hesitated only a moment when her face suddenly puckered in concentration. A moment later, she regurgitated some yellow-greenish slime up from her abdomen and brought it to her mouth. She tasted the slime as if she were a connoisseur sipping a fine wine.
"Yesss. That is how he tastes," the spider said in satisfaction as her fangs glowed in recognition. She now knew she would not miss her target.
This time, she sunk her fangs into the ball of black webbing. But she wasn't intending to digest it as she usually did with old or unwanted webbing. Instead, she allowed a substance to leach out of her fangs and penetrate the ball.
The ghostly creature then took the 'homemade' contraption, which she called her 'ĉerko' [2], and raised it above her head. And not unlike a hammer thrower at a track-and-field event, she expertly twirled the ball and string in a tight circle.
Faster and faster the thick thread and ball spun above the head of the black spider as it pushed more power into it with its front legs.
Suddenly, a purple and a red bolt of lightning dashed across the webbing above her and the spinning ball just as she had intended. The two bolts of lightning immediately struck the whirling ball; and its color instantly turned to fuchsia before a beam of the same color jutted out from it and a purple, red and black ghostly portal swirled into existence at the beam's end.
The glowing spider looked at the portal with some dissatisfaction. True, she really didn't need her ĉerko here in her domain, as she could easily slither down to the solid center. But she was so upset about the breach in her territory and driven by her hunger for those powerful ghosts, she was determined to make no errors in finding her target. Besides, the winged creature she wanted to find would have to be under her control from the start—even if it were temporary in his case.
Usually, her ĉerko easily stripped its victims of their sensibilities for quite a while because it was impregnated with her poison. But what she was dealing with down below was not a typical victim. Like her, he was actually a spirit; only that he and his race were really nothing like her, either. Still, she knew that it was best that she use her ĉerko when first dealing with him even if end he could rid himself of her poison almost immediately. Not that she worried about that. Her poison would confuse him enough so he would not be able to escape being captured and held tight by her ĉerko, just as he was not able to escape the prison she had woven. And if he got too sassy, she could always jolt him with the electricity in the atmosphere which she controlled.
Suddenly, more lightning enveloped the spider and pulled her from her thoughts before it seemed to race upward and bounce off of her upper body, only to infuse its raw, powerful its energy into the thread within its forelegs.
Cackling a bit at her success and then talking to the now glowing dark fuchsia ball as if it were alive, she commanded with more words than she usually uttered and also with words she only used when addressing herself, "Go. Find what she wants. Secure it. Signal her with a jolt when done."
With a ghostly cry, she finally catapulted the radiant deep reddish-purple ball through the portal, but still hung onto its glowing black thread as if she had flung a life preserver attached to a rope into the water. She fed more and more thread to it as it penetrated the portal and traveled onward.
All the while, the black ghostly spider settled into a comfortable position within this part of the web, lying in wait.
"Hunting time," she almost purred as she looked over her still glowing body and its vibrant black gem, and smugly addressed only herself, "Dearest Ĉasista." [3]
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[1] Based on the Fantomos Ecto-Scale discovered in my story, "Gold Tested in Fire". (winks. Go ahead and read it—you know you want to!)
[2] Esperanto for 'coffin'. I'm absolutely thrilled to find an exotic name for this newest contraption and since I think it really almost acts like a coffin, it was only natural to name it 'ĉerko'!
[3] Made-up female equivalent for the Esperanto word for 'huntress'. The actual word is ĉasisto, which means hunter; and there didn't seem to be an Esperanto word for 'huntress'. But I thought it was the perfect name for this ghost spider and so voilà! And just so you are clear about her, Ĉasista never uses the first person pronouns when she talks about herself or her wishes.
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A/N: I hope you liked this chapter and make it your NEW New Year's resolution to write your lovely ideas about in that convenient little box below! Also, we'll get to Danny and friends shortly, but not immediately. It's important to set some stuff set up before we get to the juicy middle of that ecto-being in the cocoon...uh, ewww? LOL My brain burped and Ms. Hyde had to say something! Oh, you don't know who Ms. Hyde is? She is the evil muse to my Dr. Truephan Jekyll persona! In any case, I hope you join me as the rest of the story continues! As for now, thank you for reading and I hope to hear from you soon!